The Tamil National Struggle & the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord-
An International Conference at the Middlesex Polytechnic, London
30 April & 1 May 1988

Message to the Conference from
Velupillai Pirabaharan, Leader of Tamil Eelam

Dear Delegates, Patriots and Friends,

I am very delighted to know that the World Federation of Tamils has
organised an International Conference in London to focus on the Tamil national
liberation struggle and on the implications of the Indo-Sri
Lanka accord. Such a convention, participated by Tamil patriots from all over
the world, is most timely and urgent in view of the critical and dangerous situation that
has developed in Tamil Eelam since the signing of the Accord.

You are aware that within a short span of time after the so- called
Peace Accord was signed, the Indian troops which landed on our soil with a peace mission
to protect our people, entered into a ruthless war against our liberation movement, the
consequences of which is catastrophic in terms of civil deaths and destruction of
property. This war, which was started on the 10th of October last year is continuing,
unabated, with ever growing fury, bleeding the Tamil nation profusely.

The continuation of this war with its violence and bloodshed clearly
demonstrates that the accord has miserably failed in its acclaimed objectives of bringing
peace and harmony to our people. It is no more a peace agreement. It can only be
characterised as a war accord, as an accord of military alliance between India and Sri
Lanka, the strategic aim of which is to destroy the Tamil freedom movement and its armed
vanguard.

For the last seven months, we
have been fighting to defend ourselves against a formidable military apparatus whose
sophistication in war technology and in manpower is far superior than ours. It is sheer
will power, courage and our fierce determination not to surrender in humiliation, and
above all, the moral support provided by our people, that contributed to our survival as a
fighting force against the military might of a super power. Our capacity to resist in this
prolonged war should be a bitter lesson to India that the will of a nation, cannot be
suppressed by military means, however formidable it may be.

It is with profound sorrow and pain we took to arms to resist since
India offered to us not alternative other than to defend ourselves or perish. We consider
India as our friend and ally and therefore we despise this war. I have made several
appeals to the Indian Prime Minister for peace, for negotiations and reconciliation. But
to our deep dismay India has turned down our genuine place for peace.

There seems to be a callous and calculated determination on the
part of India to wipe out the Tiger movement and thereafter to induct an electoral process
in Tamil Eelam at the point of a gun, to impose upon the Tamil people a deficient
political framework which has, thus, chosen to betray the interests of the Eelam Tamils in
order to strengthen and consolidate her relationship with Sri Lanka and to secure her
geo-political objectives.

As a consequence of India's direct and violent intervention in the
Tamil National problem through the medium of this Accord, the future of our people, their
socio-political existence is suddenly thrown into the darkness of uncertainty confusion
and gloom. Our political struggle of self determination
which is a product of a lengthy evolutionary history
extending over forty years, a product of national campaigns, of mass agitations, of
revolutionary armed resistance, is faced with the danger of being stamped out. The
ultimate consequence of the Indian intervention is the grave danger of the complete
subjugation of our people to the dictatorial dominance of the Sinhala ruling class and the
perpetuation of oppression, state terror and genocide.

In view of this grim situation facing the people of Tamil Eelam, it is
the national duty and solemn responsibility of all the Tamil patriots living abroad to
organise and mobilise themselves into a powerful international
voice of reason to fight for the redemption of their motherland caught in a monumental
historical tragedy. The patriotic Tamil intelligentsia, living abroad should lead an
effective global campaign to stir the conscience of the civilised world about this tragic
human conditions of betrayal and oppression. We fervently hope that the international
Tamil community will understand and support wholeheartedly, the determined struggle of our
liberation movement to fight for the cause of justice for our oppressed people.